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New York — Television's biggest night wasn't that big. The Emmy Awards drew a record-low audience of just under 10.2 million people, down 11 percent from the past two years.
Michael Che and Colin Jost of Saturday Night Live hosted the awards show on NBC Monday. Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel became the first show from a streaming service to win best comedy, while HBO's Game of Thrones was the top drama.
The show reached virtually identical audiences of 11.4 million each of the last two years, the Nielsen company said.
The ratings decline continues a troubling trend for televised awards shows. The Oscars audience this year was down 19 percent from 2017 and the Grammys were down 23 percent.
The further fragmentation of television undoubtedly plays a role in audience interest levels. When Frasier was winning awards in the 1990s, the comedy was regularly seen in nearly 20 million homes. Streamed shows like Mrs. Maisel are far less popular and, in fact, it's still difficult to get precise numbers about how many people watch them.
Three times in the 1990s, the audience for the Emmy Awards exceeded 20 million people.
On the bright side, it's likely to have contained the most-watched marriage proposal of the year. Emmy winner Glenn Weiss heartened audience member by proposing to his girlfriend while onstage accepting an award for directing the Oscars telecast. Jan Svendsen said yes.
